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Procopius

Procopius of Caesarea (Greek: Προκόπιος ὁ Καισαρεύς Prokópios ho Kaisareús; Latin: Procopius Caesariensis; c. 500 – 565) was a prominent late antique Greek scholar and historian from Caesarea Maritima.[a][2] Accompanying the Roman general Belisarius in Emperor Justinian's wars, Procopius became the principal Roman historian of the 6th century, writing the History of the Wars, the Buildings, and the Secret History.

Procopius
Bornc. 500 CE
Caesarea Maritima, Palaestina Prima, Eastern Roman Empire
Diedc. 565 CE
OccupationLegal adviser
SubjectSecular history
Notable works
  • History of the Wars
  • Buildings
  • Secret History

Life

Apart from his own writings, the main source for Procopius's life was an entry in the Suda,[3] a Byzantine Greek encyclopaedia written sometime after 975 which discusses his early life. He was a native of Caesarea in the province of Palaestina Prima.[4] He would have received a conventional upper class education in the Greek classics and rhetoric,[5] perhaps at the famous school at Gaza.[6] He may have attended law school, possibly at Berytus (present-day Beirut) or Constantinople (now Istanbul),[7][b] and became a lawyer (rhetor).[3] He evidently knew Latin, as was natural for a man with legal training.[c] In 527, the first year of the reign of the emperor Justinian I, he became the legal adviser (adsessor) for Belisarius, a general whom Justinian made his chief military commander in a great attempt to restore control over the lost western provinces of the empire.[d]

Procopius was with Belisarius on the eastern front until the latter was defeated at the Battle of Callinicum in 531[11] and recalled to Constantinople.[12] Procopius witnessed the Nika riots of January, 532, which Belisarius and his fellow general Mundus repressed with a massacre in the Hippodrome.[13] In 533, he accompanied Belisarius on his victorious expedition against the Vandal kingdom in North Africa, took part in the capture of Carthage, and remained in Africa with Belisarius's successor Solomon the Eunuch when Belisarius returned east to the capital. Procopius recorded a few of the extreme weather events of 535–536, although these were presented as a backdrop to Byzantine military activities, such as a mutiny in and around Carthage.[14][e] He rejoined Belisarius for his campaign against the Ostrogothic kingdom in Italy and experienced the Gothic siege of Rome that lasted a year and nine days, ending in mid-March 538. He witnessed Belisarius's entry into the Gothic capital, Ravenna, in 540. Both the Wars[15] and the Secret History suggest that his relationship with Belisarius cooled thereafter. When Belisarius was sent back to Italy in 544 to cope with a renewal of the war with the Goths, now led by the able king Totila, Procopius appears to have no longer been on Belisarius's staff.

As magister militum, Belisarius was an "illustrious man" (Latin: vir illustris; Greek: ἰλλούστριος, illoústrios); being his adsessor, Procopius must therefore have had at least the rank of a "visible man" (vir spectabilis). He thus belonged to the mid-ranking group of the senatorial order (ordo senatorius). However, the Suda, which is usually well informed in such matters, also describes Procopius himself as one of the illustres. Should this information be correct, Procopius would have had a seat in Constantinople's senate, which was restricted to the illustres under Justinian. He also wrote that under Justinian's reign in 560, a major Christian church dedicated to the Virgin Mary was built on the site of the Temple Mount.[16]

It is not certain when Procopius died. Many historians—including Howard-Johnson, Cameron, and Geoffrey Greatrex—date his death to 554, but there was an urban prefect of Constantinople (praefectus urbi Constantinopolitanae) who called Procopius in 562. In that year, Belisarius was implicated in a conspiracy and was brought before this urban prefect.

In fact, some scholars have argued that Procopius died at least a few years after 565 as he unequivocally states in the beginning of his Secret History that he planned to publish it after the death of Justinian for fear he would be tortured and killed by the emperor (or even by general Belisarius) if the emperor (or the general) learned about what Procopius wrote (his scathing criticism of the emperor, of his wife, of Belisarius, of the general's wife, Antonia: calling the former "demons in human form" and the latter incompetent and treacherous) in this later history. However, most scholars believe that the Secret History was written in 550 and remained unpublished during Procopius' lifetime.

Writings

 
Emperor Justinian

The writings of Procopius are the primary source of information for the rule of the emperor Justinian I. Procopius was the author of a history in eight books on the wars prosecuted by Justinian, a panegyric on the emperor's public works projects throughout the empire, and a book known as the Secret History that claims to report the scandals that Procopius could not include in his officially sanctioned history for fear of angering the emperor, his wife, Belisarius, and the general's wife and had to wait until all of them were dead to avoid retaliation.

History of the Wars

Procopius's Wars or History of the Wars (Greek: Ὑπὲρ τῶν Πολέμων Λόγοι, Hypèr tōn Polémon Lógoi, "Words on the Wars"; Latin: De Bellis, "On the Wars") is his most important work, although less well known than the Secret History.[17] The first seven books seem to have been largely completed by 545 and may have been published as a unit. They were, however, updated to mid-century before publication, with the latest mentioned event occurring in early 551. The eighth and final book brings the history to 553.

The first two books—often known as The Persian War (Latin: De Bello Persico)—deal with the conflict between the Romans and Sassanid Persia in Mesopotamia, Syria, Armenia, Lazica, and Iberia (present-day Georgia).[f] It details the campaigns of the Sassanid shah Kavadh I, the 532 'Nika' revolt, the war by Kavadh's successor Khosrau I in 540, his destruction of Antioch and deportation of its inhabitants to Mesopotamia, and the great plague that devastated the empire from 542. The Persian War also covers the early career of Procopius's patron Belisarius in some detail.

The Wars’ next two books—known as The Vandal War or Vandalic War (Latin: De Bello Vandalico)—cover Belisarius's successful campaign against the Vandal kingdom that had occupied Rome's provinces in northwest Africa for the last century.

The final four books—known as The Gothic War (Latin: De Bello Gothico)—cover the Italian campaigns by Belisarius and others against the Ostrogoths. Procopius includes accounts of the 1st and 2nd sieges of Naples and the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd sieges of Rome. He also includes an account of the rise of the Franks (see Arborychoi). The last book describes the eunuch Narses's successful conclusion of the Italian campaign and includes some coverage of campaigns along the empire's eastern borders as well.

The Wars proved influential on later Byzantine historiography.[19] In the 570s Agathias wrote Histories, a continuation of Procopius's work in a similar style.

Secret History

 
Belisarius may be this bearded figure on the right of Emperor Justinian I in the mosaic in the Church of San Vitale, Ravenna, which celebrates the reconquest of Italy by the Roman army under the skillful leadership of Belisarius.

Procopius's now famous Anecdota, also known as Secret History (Greek: Ἀπόκρυφη Ἱστορία, Apókryphe Historía; Latin: Historia Arcana), was discovered centuries later at the Vatican Library in Rome[20] and published in Lyon by Niccolò Alamanni in 1623. Its existence was already known from the Suda, which referred to it as Procopius's "unpublished works" containing "comedy" and "invective" of Justinian, Theodora, Belisarius and Antonina. The Secret History covers roughly the same years as the first seven books of The History of the Wars and appears to have been written after they were published. Current consensus generally dates it to 550, or less commonly 558.

In the eyes of many scholars, the Secret History reveals an author who had become deeply disillusioned with Emperor Justinian, his wife Theodora, the general Belisarius, and his wife Antonina. The work claims to expose the secret springs of their public actions, as well as the private lives of the emperor and his entourage. Justinian is portrayed as cruel, venal, prodigal, and incompetent. In one passage, it is even claimed that he was possessed by demonic spirits or was himself a demon:

And some of those who have been with Justinian at the palace late at night, men who were pure of spirit, have thought they saw a strange demoniac form taking his place. One man said that the Emperor suddenly rose from his throne and walked about, and indeed he was never wont to remain sitting for long, and immediately Justinian's head vanished, while the rest of his body seemed to ebb and flow; whereat the beholder stood aghast and fearful, wondering if his eyes were deceiving him. But presently he perceived the vanished head filling out and joining the body again as strangely as it had left it.[21]

Similarly, the Theodora of the Secret History is a garish portrait of vulgarity and insatiable lust juxtaposed with cold-blooded self-interest, shrewishness, and envious and fearful mean-spiritedness. Among the more titillating (and dubious) revelations in the Secret History is Procopius's account of Theodora's thespian accomplishments:

Often, even in the theatre, in the sight of all the people, she removed her costume and stood nude in their midst, except for a girdle about the groin: not that she was abashed at revealing that, too, to the audience, but because there was a law against appearing altogether naked on the stage, without at least this much of a fig-leaf. Covered thus with a ribbon, she would sink down to the stage floor and recline on her back. Slaves to whom the duty was entrusted would then scatter grains of barley from above into the calyx of this passion flower, whence geese, trained for the purpose, would next pick the grains one by one with their bills and eat.[22]

Furthermore, Secret History portrays Belisarius as a weak man completely emasculated by his wife, Antonina, who is portrayed in very similar terms to Theodora. They are both said to be former actresses and close friends. Procopius claimed Antonina worked as an agent for Theodora against Belisarius, and had an ongoing affair with Belisarius' godson, Theodosius.

On the other hand, it has been argued that Procopius prepared the Secret History as an exaggerated document out of fear that a conspiracy might overthrow Justinian's regime, which—as a kind of court historian—might be reckoned to include him. The unpublished manuscript would then have been a kind of insurance, which could be offered to the new ruler as a way to avoid execution or exile after the coup. If this hypothesis were correct, the Secret History would not be proof that Procopius hated Justinian or Theodora.[23]

The Buildings

 
Triumphal arch at the entrance to the Sangarius Bridge

The Buildings (Greek: Περὶ Κτισμάτων, Perì Ktismáton; Latin: De Aedificiis, "On Buildings") is a panegyric on Justinian's public works projects throughout the empire.[24] The first book may date to before the collapse of the first dome of Hagia Sophia in 557, but some scholars think that it is possible that the work postdates the building of the bridge over the Sangarius in the late 550s.[25] Historians consider Buildings to be an incomplete work due to evidence of the surviving version being a draft with two possible redactions.[24][26]

Buildings was likely written at Justinian's behest, and it is doubtful that its sentiments expressed are sincere. It tells us nothing further about Belisarius, and it takes a sharply different attitude towards Justinian. He is presented as an idealised Christian emperor who built churches for the glory of God and defenses for the safety of his subjects. He is depicted showing particular concern for the water supply, building new aqueducts and restoring those that had fallen into disuse. Theodora, who was dead when this panegyric was written, is mentioned only briefly, but Procopius's praise of her beauty is fulsome.

Due to the panegyrical nature of Procopius's Buildings, historians have discovered several discrepancies between claims made by Procopius and accounts in other primary sources. A prime example is Procopius's starting the reign of Justinian in 518, which was actually the start of the reign of his uncle and predecessor Justin I. By treating the uncle's reign as part of his nephew's, Procopius was able to credit Justinian with buildings erected or begun under Justin's administration. Such works include renovation of the walls of Edessa after its 525 flood and consecration of several churches in the region. Similarly, Procopius falsely credits Justinian for the extensive refortification of the cities of Tomis and Histria in Scythia Minor. This had actually been carried out under Anastasius I, who reigned before Justin.[27]

Style

Procopius belongs to the school of late antique historians who continued the traditions of the Second Sophistic. They wrote in Attic Greek. Their models were Herodotus, Polybius and in particular Thucydides. Their subject matter was secular history. They avoided vocabulary unknown to Attic Greek and inserted an explanation when they had to use contemporary words. Thus Procopius includes glosses of monks ("the most temperate of Christians") and churches (as equivalent to a "temple" or "shrine"), since monasticism was unknown to the ancient Athenians and their ekklesía had been a popular assembly.[28]

The secular historians eschewed the history of the Christian church. Ecclesiastical history was left to a separate genre after Eusebius. However, Cameron has argued convincingly that Procopius's works reflect the tensions between the classical and Christian models of history in 6th-century Constantinople. This is supported by Whitby's analysis of Procopius's depiction of the capital and its cathedral in comparison to contemporary pagan panegyrics.[29] Procopius can be seen as depicting Justinian as essentially God's vicegerent, making the case for buildings being a primarily religious panegyric.[30] Procopius indicates that he planned to write an ecclesiastical history himself[31] and, if he had, he would probably have followed the rules of that genre. As far as known, however, such an ecclesiastical history was never written.

Some historians have criticized Propocius's description of some barbarians, for example, he dehumanized the unfamiliar Moors as "not even properly human". This was however, inline with Byzantine ethnographic practice in late antiquity.[32]

Legacy

A number of historical novels based on Procopius's works (along with other sources) have been written. Count Belisarius was written by poet and novelist Robert Graves in 1938. Procopius himself appears as a minor character in Felix Dahn's A Struggle for Rome and in L. Sprague de Camp's alternate history novel Lest Darkness Fall. The novel's main character, archaeologist Martin Padway, derives most of his knowledge of historical events from the Secret History.[33]

The narrator in Herman Melville's novel Moby-Dick cites Procopius's description of a captured sea monster as evidence of the narrative's feasibility.[34]

List of selected works

  • J. Haury, ed. (1962–64) [1905]. Procopii Caesariensis opera omnia (in Greek). revised by G. Wirth. Leipzig: Teubner. 4 volumes
  • H. B. Dewing, ed. (1914–40). Procopius. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press and London, Hutchinson. 7 volumes, Greek text and English translation
  • G. A. Williamson, ed. (2007) [1966]. Procopius | The Secret History. Loeb Classical Library. Translated by Peter Sarris. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0140455281. A readable and accessible English translation of the Anecdota
  • Prokopios | The Secret History. Translated by Anthony Kaldellis. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing. 2010. ISBN 978-1603841801. This edition includes related texts, an introductory essay, notes, maps, a timeline, a guide to the main sources from the period and a guide to scholarship in English. The translator uses blunt and precise English prose in order to adhere to the style of the original text.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ "Like many Byzantine scholars, Procopius affected a remarkable traditional form of writing".[1]
  2. ^ For an alternative reading of Procopius as a trained engineer, see Howard-Johnson.[8]
  3. ^ Procopius uses and translates a number of Latin words in his Wars. Börm suggests a possible acquaintance with Vergil and Sallust.[9]
  4. ^ Procopius speaks of becoming Belisarius's advisor (symboulos) in that year.[10]
  5. ^ Before modern times, European and Mediterranean historians, as far as weather is concerned, typically recorded only the extreme or major weather events for a year or a multi-year period, preferring to focus on the human activities of policy makers and warriors instead.
  6. ^ Börm provides a detailed analysis.[18]

References

  1. ^ "Procopius", John Moorhead, Encyclopedia of Historians and Historical Writing: M–Z, Vol. II, Kelly Boyd, (Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 1999), 962.
  2. ^ Morcillo, Jesús Muñoz; Trotha, Caroline Y. Robertson-von (2020-11-30). Genealogy of Popular Science: From Ancient Ecphrasis to Virtual Reality. transcript Verlag. p. 332. ISBN 978-3-8394-4835-9.
  3. ^ a b Suda pi.2479. See under 'Procopius' on Suda On Line.
  4. ^ Procopius, Wars of Justinian I.1.1; Suda pi.2479. See under 'Procopius' on Suda On Line.
  5. ^ Cameron, Averil: Procopius and the Sixth Century, London: Duckworth, 1985, p.7.
  6. ^ Evans, James A. S.: Procopius. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1972, p. 31.
  7. ^ Cameron, Procopius and the Sixth Century, p. 6.
  8. ^ Howard-Johnson, James: 'The Education and Expertise of Procopius'; in Antiquité Tardive 10 (2002), 19–30.
  9. ^ Börm, Henning (2007) Prokop und die Perser, p.46. Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart. ISBN 978-3-515-09052-0
  10. ^ Procopius, Wars, 1.12.24.
  11. ^ Wars, I.18.1-56
  12. ^ Wars, I.21.2
  13. ^ Wars, I.24.1-58
  14. ^ 1.
  15. ^ Wars, VIII.
  16. ^ Dolphin, Lambert. "Visiting the Temple Mount". Temple Mount.org. Retrieved February 5, 2020.
  17. ^ Procopius (1914). "Procopius, de Bellis. H.B. (Henry Bronson) Dewing, Ed. [First section:] Procop. Pers. 1.1". data.perseus.org. Perseus Digital Library. Retrieved 24 December 2022. [Opening line in Greek] Προκόπιος Καισαρεὺς τοὺς πολέμους ξυνέγραψεν οὓς Ἰουστινιανὸς ὁ Ῥωμαίων βασιλεὺς πρὸς βαρβάρους διήνεγκε τούς τε ἑῴους καὶ ἑσπερίους,... Translation: Procopius from Caesarea wrote the history of the wars of Roman Emperor Justinianus against the barbarians of the East and of the West... Greek text edition by Henry Bronson Dewing, 1914.
  18. ^ Börm, Henning. Prokop und die Perser. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 2007.
  19. ^ Cresci, Lia Raffaella. "Procopio al confine tra due tradizioni storiografiche". Rivista di Filologia e di Istruzione Classica 129.1 (2001) 61–77.
  20. ^ Mendelsohn, Daniel (26 December 2010). "God's Librarians". The New Yorker.
  21. ^ Procopius, Secret History 12.20–22, trans. Atwater.
  22. ^ Procopius Secret History 9.20–21, trans. Atwater.
  23. ^ Cf. Börm (2015).
  24. ^ a b Downey, Glanville: "The Composition of Procopius, De Aedificiis", in Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association 78: pp. 171–183; abstract from JSTOR
  25. ^ Whitby, Michael: "Procopian Polemics: a review of A. Kaldellis Procopius of Caesarea. Tyranny, History, and Philosophy at the End of Antiquity", in The Classical Review 55 (2006), pp. 648–
  26. ^ Cameron, Averil. Procopius and the Sixth Century. London: Routledge, 1985.
  27. ^ Croke, Brian and James Crow: "Procopius and Dara", in The Journal of Roman Studies 73 (1983), 143–159.
  28. ^ Wars, 2.9.14 and 1.7.22.
  29. ^ Buildings, Book I.
  30. ^ Whitby, Mary: "Procopius' Buildings Book I: A Panegyrical Perspective", in Antiquité Tardive 8 (2000), 45–57.
  31. ^ Secret History, 26.18.
  32. ^ Kaldellis, Anthony (2013). Ethnography after antiquity : foreign lands and peoples in Byzantine literature. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 10. ISBN 978-0-8122-0840-5. OCLC 859162344.
  33. ^ de Camp, L. Sprague (1949). Lest Darkness Fall. Ballantine Books. p. 111.
  34. ^ Melville, Herman (1851). Moby-Dick, or, the Whale. London: Harper & Brothers. doi:10.5962/bhl.title.62077.
  • This article is based on an by James Allan Evans, originally posted at Nupedia.

Further reading

  • Adshead, Katherine: Procopius' Poliorcetica: continuities and discontinuities, in: G. Clarke et al. (eds.): Reading the past in late antiquity, Australian National UP, Rushcutters Bay 1990, pp. 93–119
  • Alonso-Núñez, J. M.: Jordanes and Procopius on Northern Europe, in: Nottingham Medieval Studies 31 (1987), 1–16.
  • Amitay, Ory: Procopius of Caesarea and the Girgashite Diaspora, in: Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha 20 (2011), 257–276.
  • Anagnostakis, Ilias: Procopius's dream before the campaign against Libya: a reading of Wars 3.12.1-5, in: C. Angelidi and G. Calofonos (eds.), Dreaming in Byzantium and Beyond, Farnham: Ashgate Publishing 2014, 79–94.
  • Bachrach, Bernard S.: , in: Speculum 45 (1970), 435–441.
  • Bachrach, Bernard S.: Procopius and the chronology of Clovis's reign, in: Viator 1 (1970), 21–32.
  • Baldwin, Barry: An Aphorism in Procopius, in: Rheinisches Museum für Philologie 125 (1982), 309–311.
  • Baldwin, Barry: Sexual Rhetoric in Procopius, in: Mnemosyne 40 (1987), pp. 150–152
  • Belke, Klaus: Prokops De aedificiis, Buch V, zu Kleinasien, in: Antiquité Tardive 8 (2000), 115–125.
  • Börm, Henning: Prokop und die Perser. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 2007. (Review in English by G. Greatrex and Review in English by A. Kaldellis)
  • Börm, Henning: Procopius of Caesarea, in Encyclopaedia Iranica Online, New York 2013.
  • Börm, Henning: Procopius, his predecessors, and the genesis of the Anecdota: Antimonarchic discourse in late antique historiography, in: H. Börm (ed.): Antimonarchic discourse in Antiquity. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag 2015, 305–346.
  • Braund, David: Procopius on the Economy of Lazica, in: The Classical Quarterly 41 (1991), 221–225.
  • Brodka, Dariusz: Die Geschichtsphilosophie in der spätantiken Historiographie. Studien zu Prokopios von Kaisareia, Agathias von Myrina und Theophylaktos Simokattes. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2004.
  • Burn, A. R.: Procopius and the island of ghosts, in: English Historical Review 70 (1955), 258–261.
  • Cameron, Averil: Procopius and the Sixth Century. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985.
  • Cameron, Averil: The scepticism of Procopius, in: Historia 15 (1966), 466–482.
  • Colvin, Ian: Reporting Battles and Understanding Campaigns in Procopius and Agathias: Classicising Historians' Use of Archived Documents as Sources, in: A. Sarantis (ed.): War and warfare in late antiquity. Current perspectives, Leiden: Brill 2013, 571–598.
  • Cresci, Lia Raffaella: Procopio al confine tra due tradizioni storiografiche, in: Rivista di Filologia e di Istruzione Classica 129 (2001), 61–77.
  • Cristini, Marco: Il seguito ostrogoto di Amalafrida: confutazione di Procopio, Bellum Vandalicum 1.8.12, in: Klio 99 (2017), 278–289.
  • Cristini, Marco: Totila and the Lucanian Peasants: Procop. Goth. 3.22.20, in: Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies 61 (2021), 73–84.
  • Croke, Brian and James Crow: Procopius and Dara, in: The Journal of Roman Studies 73 (1983), 143–159.
  • Downey, Glanville: The Composition of Procopius, De Aedificiis, in: Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association 78 (1947), 171–183.
  • Evans, James A. S.: Justinian and the Historian Procopius, in: Greece & Rome 17 (1970), 218–223.
  • Evans, James A. S.: Procopius. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1972.
  • Gordon, C. D.: Procopius and Justinian's Financial Policies, in: Phoenix 13 (1959), 23–30.
  • Greatrex, Geoffrey: Procopius and the Persian Wars, D.Phil. thesis, Oxford, 1994.
  • Greatrex, Geoffrey: The dates of Procopius' works, in: BMGS 18 (1994), 101–114.
  • Greatrex, Geoffrey: The Composition of Procopius' Persian Wars and John the Cappadocian, in: Prudentia 27 (1995), 1–13.
  • Greatrex, Geoffrey: Rome and Persia at War, 502–532. London: Francis Cairns, 1998.
  • Greatrex, Geoffrey: Recent work on Procopius and the composition of Wars VIII, in: BMGS 27 (2003), 45–67.
  • Greatrex, Geoffrey: Perceptions of Procopius in Recent Scholarship, in: Histos 8 (2014), 76–121 and 121a–e (addenda).
  • Greatrex, Geoffrey: Procopius of Caesarea: The Persian Wars. A Historical Commentary. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2022.
  • Howard-Johnson, James: The Education and Expertise of Procopius, in: Antiquité Tardive 10 (2002), 19–30
  • Kaçar, Turhan: "Procopius in Turkey", Histos Supplement 9 (2019) 19.1–8.
  • Kaegi, Walter: Procopius the military historian, in: Byzantinische Forschungen. 15, 1990, ISSN 0167-5346, 53–85 ().
  • Kaldellis, Anthony: Classicism, Barbarism, and Warfare: Prokopios and the Conservative Reaction to Later Roman Military Policy, American Journal of Ancient History, n.s. 3-4 (2004-2005 [2007]), 189–218.
  • Kaldellis, Anthony: Identifying Dissident Circles in Sixth-Century Byzantium: The Friendship of Prokopios and Ioannes Lydos, Florilegium, Vol. 21 (2004), 1–17.
  • Kaldellis, Anthony: Procopius of Caesarea: Tyranny, History and Philosophy at the End of Antiquity. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004.
  • Kaldellis, Anthony: Prokopios’ Persian War: A Thematic and Literary Analysis, in: R. Macrides, ed., History as Literature in Byzantium, Aldershot: Ashgate, 2010, 253–273.
  • Kaldellis, Anthony: Prokopios’ Vandal War: Thematic Trajectories and Hidden Transcripts, in: S. T. Stevens & J. Conant, eds., North Africa under Byzantium and Early Islam, Washington, D.C: Dumbarton Oaks, 2016, 13–21.
  • Kaldellis, Anthony: The Date and Structure of Prokopios’ Secret History and his Projected Work on Church History, in: Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies, Vol. 49 (2009), 585–616.
  • Kovács, Tamás: "Procopius's Sibyl - the fall of Vitigis and the Ostrogoths", Graeco-Latina Brunensia 24.2 (2019), 113–124.
  • Kruse, Marion: The Speech of the Armenians in Procopius: Justinian's Foreign Policy and the Transition between Books 1 and 2 of the Wars, in: The Classical Quarterly 63 (2013), 866–881.
  • Lillington-Martin, Christopher, 2007–2017:
    • 2007, "Archaeological and Ancient Literary Evidence for a Battle near Dara Gap, Turkey, AD 530: Topography, Texts and Trenches" in BAR –S1717, 2007 The Late Roman Army in the Near East from Diocletian to the Arab Conquest Proceedings of a colloquium held at Potenza, Acerenza and Matera, Italy edited by Ariel S. Lewin and Pietrina Pellegrini, pp. 299–311;
    • 2009, "Procopius, Belisarius and the Goths" in Journal of the Oxford University History Society,(2009) Odd Alliances edited by Heather Ellis and Graciela Iglesias Rogers. ISSN 1742-917X, pages 1– 17, https://sites.google.com/site/jouhsinfo/issue7specialissueforinternetexplorer;
    • 2011, "Secret Histories", http://classicsconfidential.co.uk/2011/11/19/secret-histories/;
    • 2012, "Hard and Soft Power on the Eastern Frontier: a Roman Fortlet between Dara and Nisibis, Mesopotamia, Turkey: Prokopios’ Mindouos?" in The Byzantinist, edited by Douglas Whalin, Issue 2 (2012), pp. 4–5, http://oxfordbyzantinesociety.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/obsnews2012final.pdf;
    • 2013, Procopius on the struggle for Dara and Rome, in A. Sarantis, N. Christie (eds.): War and Warfare in Late Antiquity: Current Perspectives (Late Antique Archaeology 8.1–8.2 2010–11), Leiden: Brill 2013, pp. 599–630, ISBN 978-90-04-25257-8;
    • 2013 “La defensa de Roma por Belisario” in: Justiniano I el Grande (Desperta Ferro) edited by Alberto Pérez Rubio, no. 18 (July 2013), pages 40–45, ISSN 2171-9276;
    • 2017, Procopius of Caesarea: Literary and Historical Interpretations (editor), Routledge (July 2017), www.routledge.com/9781472466044;
    • 2017, "Introduction" and chapter 10, “Procopius, πάρεδρος / quaestor, Codex Justinianus, I.27 and Belisarius’ strategy in the Mediterranean” in Procopius of Caesarea: Literary and Historical Interpretations above.
  • Maas, Michael Robert: Strabo and Procopius: Classical Geography for a Christian Empire, in H. Amirav et al. (eds.): From Rome to Constantinople. Studies in Honour of Averil Cameron, Leuven: Peeters, 2007, 67–84.
  • Martindale, John: The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire III, Cambridge 1992, 1060–1066.
  • Max, Gerald E., "Procopius' Portrait of the (Western Roman) Emperor Majorian: History and Historiography," Sonderdruck Aus Band 74/1981, pp. 1-6.
  • Meier, Mischa: Prokop, Agathias, die Pest und das ′Ende′ der antiken Historiographie, in Historische Zeitschrift 278 (2004), 281–310.
  • Meier, Mischa and Federico Montinaro (eds.): A Companion to Procopius of Caesarea. Brill, Leiden 2022, ISBN 978-3-89781-215-4.
  • Pazdernik, Charles F.: Xenophon’s Hellenica in Procopius’ Wars: Pharnabazus and Belisarius, in: Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies 46 (2006) 175–206.
  • Rance, Philip: Narses and the Battle of Taginae (552 AD): Procopius and Sixth-Century Warfare, in: Historia. Zeitschrift für alte Geschichte 30.4 (2005) 424–472.
  • Rubin, Berthold: Prokopios, in Realencyclopädie der Classischen Altertumswissenschaft 23/1 (1957), 273–599. Earlier published (with index) as Prokopios von Kaisareia, Stuttgart: Druckenmüller, 1954.
  • Stewart, Michael, Contests of Andreia in Procopius’ Gothic Wars, Παρεκβολαι 4 (2014), pp. 21–54.
  • Stewart, Michael, The Andreios Eunuch-Commander Narses: Sign of a Decoupling of martial Virtues and Hegemonic Masculinity in the early Byzantine Empire?, Cerae 2 (2015), pp. 1–25.
  • Stewart, Michael, Masculinity, Identity, and Power Politics in the Age of Justinian: A Study of Procopius, Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2020:https://www.aup.nl/en/book/9789462988231/masculinity-identity-and-power-politics-in-the-age-of-justinian
  • Treadgold, Warren: The Early Byzantine Historians, Basingstoke: Macmillan 2007, 176–226.
  • . An article by art historian Noah Charney about the Vatican Library and its famous manuscript, Historia Arcana by Procopius.
  • Whately, Conor, Battles and Generals: Combat, Culture, and Didacticism in Procopius' Wars. Leiden, 2016.
  • Whitby, L. M. "Procopius and the Development of Roman Defences in Upper Mesopotamia", in P. Freeman and D. Kennedy (ed.), The Defence of the Roman and Byzantine East, Oxford, 1986, 717–35.

External links

Texts of Procopius

  • Works by Procopius in eBook form at Standard Ebooks
  • Works by Procopius at Project Gutenberg
  • Works by or about Procopius at Internet Archive
  • Works by Procopius at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)  
  • Complete Works, Greek text (Migne Patrologia Graeca) with analytical indexes
  • The Secret History, English translation (Atwater, 1927) at the Internet Medieval Sourcebook
  • The Secret History, English translation (Dewing, 1935) at LacusCurtius
  • The Buildings, English translation (Dewing, 1935) at LacusCurtius
  • Greek text with commentaries, index nominum, etc. at Sorin Olteanu's LTDM Project
  • H. B. Dewing's Loeb edition of the works of Procopius: vols. I–VI at the Internet Archive (History of the Wars, Secret History)
  • Palestine Pilgrims' Text Society (1888): Of the buildings of Justinian by Procopius, (ca 560 A.D)
  • Complete Works 1, Greek ed. by K. W. Dindorf, Latin trans. by Claude Maltret in Corpus Scriptorum Historiae Byzantinae Pars II Vol. 1, 1833. (Persian Wars I–II, Vandal Wars I–II)
  • Complete Works 2, Greek ed. by K. W. Dindorf, Latin trans. by Claude Maltret in Corpus Scriptorum Historiae Byzantinae Pars II Vol. 2, 1833. (Gothic Wars I–IV)
  • Complete Works 3, Greek ed. by K. W. Dindorf, Latin trans. by Claude Maltret in Corpus Scriptorum Historiae Byzantinae Pars II Vol. 3, 1838. (Secret History, Buildings of Justinian)

Secondary material

  • Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Procopius of Caesarea" . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  • Entry for Procopius from the Suda.

procopius, this, article, about, historian, author, secret, history, other, persons, with, given, name, given, name, spider, genus, spider, caesarea, greek, Προκόπιος, Καισαρεύς, prokópios, kaisareús, latin, caesariensis, prominent, late, antique, greek, schol. This article is about the historian and author of the Secret History For other persons with the given name see Procopius given name For the spider genus see Procopius spider Procopius of Caesarea Greek Prokopios ὁ Kaisareys Prokopios ho Kaisareus Latin Procopius Caesariensis c 500 565 was a prominent late antique Greek scholar and historian from Caesarea Maritima a 2 Accompanying the Roman general Belisarius in Emperor Justinian s wars Procopius became the principal Roman historian of the 6th century writing the History of the Wars the Buildings and the Secret History ProcopiusBornc 500 CE Caesarea Maritima Palaestina Prima Eastern Roman EmpireDiedc 565 CEOccupationLegal adviserSubjectSecular historyNotable worksHistory of the Wars Buildings Secret History Contents 1 Life 2 Writings 2 1 History of the Wars 2 2 Secret History 2 3 The Buildings 3 Style 4 Legacy 5 List of selected works 6 See also 7 Notes 8 References 9 Further reading 10 External links 10 1 Texts of Procopius 10 2 Secondary materialLife EditApart from his own writings the main source for Procopius s life was an entry in the Suda 3 a Byzantine Greek encyclopaedia written sometime after 975 which discusses his early life He was a native of Caesarea in the province of Palaestina Prima 4 He would have received a conventional upper class education in the Greek classics and rhetoric 5 perhaps at the famous school at Gaza 6 He may have attended law school possibly at Berytus present day Beirut or Constantinople now Istanbul 7 b and became a lawyer rhetor 3 He evidently knew Latin as was natural for a man with legal training c In 527 the first year of the reign of the emperor Justinian I he became the legal adviser adsessor for Belisarius a general whom Justinian made his chief military commander in a great attempt to restore control over the lost western provinces of the empire d Procopius was with Belisarius on the eastern front until the latter was defeated at the Battle of Callinicum in 531 11 and recalled to Constantinople 12 Procopius witnessed the Nika riots of January 532 which Belisarius and his fellow general Mundus repressed with a massacre in the Hippodrome 13 In 533 he accompanied Belisarius on his victorious expedition against the Vandal kingdom in North Africa took part in the capture of Carthage and remained in Africa with Belisarius s successor Solomon the Eunuch when Belisarius returned east to the capital Procopius recorded a few of the extreme weather events of 535 536 although these were presented as a backdrop to Byzantine military activities such as a mutiny in and around Carthage 14 e He rejoined Belisarius for his campaign against the Ostrogothic kingdom in Italy and experienced the Gothic siege of Rome that lasted a year and nine days ending in mid March 538 He witnessed Belisarius s entry into the Gothic capital Ravenna in 540 Both the Wars 15 and the Secret History suggest that his relationship with Belisarius cooled thereafter When Belisarius was sent back to Italy in 544 to cope with a renewal of the war with the Goths now led by the able king Totila Procopius appears to have no longer been on Belisarius s staff As magister militum Belisarius was an illustrious man Latin vir illustris Greek ἰlloystrios illoustrios being his adsessor Procopius must therefore have had at least the rank of a visible man vir spectabilis He thus belonged to the mid ranking group of the senatorial order ordo senatorius However the Suda which is usually well informed in such matters also describes Procopius himself as one of the illustres Should this information be correct Procopius would have had a seat in Constantinople s senate which was restricted to the illustres under Justinian He also wrote that under Justinian s reign in 560 a major Christian church dedicated to the Virgin Mary was built on the site of the Temple Mount 16 It is not certain when Procopius died Many historians including Howard Johnson Cameron and Geoffrey Greatrex date his death to 554 but there was an urban prefect of Constantinople praefectus urbi Constantinopolitanae who called Procopius in 562 In that year Belisarius was implicated in a conspiracy and was brought before this urban prefect In fact some scholars have argued that Procopius died at least a few years after 565 as he unequivocally states in the beginning of his Secret History that he planned to publish it after the death of Justinian for fear he would be tortured and killed by the emperor or even by general Belisarius if the emperor or the general learned about what Procopius wrote his scathing criticism of the emperor of his wife of Belisarius of the general s wife Antonia calling the former demons in human form and the latter incompetent and treacherous in this later history However most scholars believe that the Secret History was written in 550 and remained unpublished during Procopius lifetime Writings Edit Emperor Justinian The writings of Procopius are the primary source of information for the rule of the emperor Justinian I Procopius was the author of a history in eight books on the wars prosecuted by Justinian a panegyric on the emperor s public works projects throughout the empire and a book known as the Secret History that claims to report the scandals that Procopius could not include in his officially sanctioned history for fear of angering the emperor his wife Belisarius and the general s wife and had to wait until all of them were dead to avoid retaliation History of the Wars Edit Procopius s Wars or History of the Wars Greek Ὑpὲr tῶn Polemwn Logoi Hyper tōn Polemon Logoi Words on the Wars Latin De Bellis On the Wars is his most important work although less well known than the Secret History 17 The first seven books seem to have been largely completed by 545 and may have been published as a unit They were however updated to mid century before publication with the latest mentioned event occurring in early 551 The eighth and final book brings the history to 553 The first two books often known as The Persian War Latin De Bello Persico deal with the conflict between the Romans and Sassanid Persia in Mesopotamia Syria Armenia Lazica and Iberia present day Georgia f It details the campaigns of the Sassanid shah Kavadh I the 532 Nika revolt the war by Kavadh s successor Khosrau I in 540 his destruction of Antioch and deportation of its inhabitants to Mesopotamia and the great plague that devastated the empire from 542 The Persian War also covers the early career of Procopius s patron Belisarius in some detail The Wars next two books known as The Vandal War or Vandalic War Latin De Bello Vandalico cover Belisarius s successful campaign against the Vandal kingdom that had occupied Rome s provinces in northwest Africa for the last century The final four books known as The Gothic War Latin De Bello Gothico cover the Italian campaigns by Belisarius and others against the Ostrogoths Procopius includes accounts of the 1st and 2nd sieges of Naples and the 1st 2nd and 3rd sieges of Rome He also includes an account of the rise of the Franks see Arborychoi The last book describes the eunuch Narses s successful conclusion of the Italian campaign and includes some coverage of campaigns along the empire s eastern borders as well The Wars proved influential on later Byzantine historiography 19 In the 570s Agathias wrote Histories a continuation of Procopius s work in a similar style Secret History Edit Belisarius may be this bearded figure on the right of Emperor Justinian I in the mosaic in the Church of San Vitale Ravenna which celebrates the reconquest of Italy by the Roman army under the skillful leadership of Belisarius Procopius s now famous Anecdota also known as Secret History Greek Ἀpokryfh Ἱstoria Apokryphe Historia Latin Historia Arcana was discovered centuries later at the Vatican Library in Rome 20 and published in Lyon by Niccolo Alamanni in 1623 Its existence was already known from the Suda which referred to it as Procopius s unpublished works containing comedy and invective of Justinian Theodora Belisarius and Antonina The Secret History covers roughly the same years as the first seven books of The History of the Wars and appears to have been written after they were published Current consensus generally dates it to 550 or less commonly 558 In the eyes of many scholars the Secret History reveals an author who had become deeply disillusioned with Emperor Justinian his wife Theodora the general Belisarius and his wife Antonina The work claims to expose the secret springs of their public actions as well as the private lives of the emperor and his entourage Justinian is portrayed as cruel venal prodigal and incompetent In one passage it is even claimed that he was possessed by demonic spirits or was himself a demon And some of those who have been with Justinian at the palace late at night men who were pure of spirit have thought they saw a strange demoniac form taking his place One man said that the Emperor suddenly rose from his throne and walked about and indeed he was never wont to remain sitting for long and immediately Justinian s head vanished while the rest of his body seemed to ebb and flow whereat the beholder stood aghast and fearful wondering if his eyes were deceiving him But presently he perceived the vanished head filling out and joining the body again as strangely as it had left it 21 Similarly the Theodora of the Secret History is a garish portrait of vulgarity and insatiable lust juxtaposed with cold blooded self interest shrewishness and envious and fearful mean spiritedness Among the more titillating and dubious revelations in the Secret History is Procopius s account of Theodora s thespian accomplishments Often even in the theatre in the sight of all the people she removed her costume and stood nude in their midst except for a girdle about the groin not that she was abashed at revealing that too to the audience but because there was a law against appearing altogether naked on the stage without at least this much of a fig leaf Covered thus with a ribbon she would sink down to the stage floor and recline on her back Slaves to whom the duty was entrusted would then scatter grains of barley from above into the calyx of this passion flower whence geese trained for the purpose would next pick the grains one by one with their bills and eat 22 Furthermore Secret History portrays Belisarius as a weak man completely emasculated by his wife Antonina who is portrayed in very similar terms to Theodora They are both said to be former actresses and close friends Procopius claimed Antonina worked as an agent for Theodora against Belisarius and had an ongoing affair with Belisarius godson Theodosius On the other hand it has been argued that Procopius prepared the Secret History as an exaggerated document out of fear that a conspiracy might overthrow Justinian s regime which as a kind of court historian might be reckoned to include him The unpublished manuscript would then have been a kind of insurance which could be offered to the new ruler as a way to avoid execution or exile after the coup If this hypothesis were correct the Secret History would not be proof that Procopius hated Justinian or Theodora 23 The Buildings Edit Triumphal arch at the entrance to the Sangarius Bridge The Buildings Greek Perὶ Ktismatwn Peri Ktismaton Latin De Aedificiis On Buildings is a panegyric on Justinian s public works projects throughout the empire 24 The first book may date to before the collapse of the first dome of Hagia Sophia in 557 but some scholars think that it is possible that the work postdates the building of the bridge over the Sangarius in the late 550s 25 Historians consider Buildings to be an incomplete work due to evidence of the surviving version being a draft with two possible redactions 24 26 Buildings was likely written at Justinian s behest and it is doubtful that its sentiments expressed are sincere It tells us nothing further about Belisarius and it takes a sharply different attitude towards Justinian He is presented as an idealised Christian emperor who built churches for the glory of God and defenses for the safety of his subjects He is depicted showing particular concern for the water supply building new aqueducts and restoring those that had fallen into disuse Theodora who was dead when this panegyric was written is mentioned only briefly but Procopius s praise of her beauty is fulsome Due to the panegyrical nature of Procopius s Buildings historians have discovered several discrepancies between claims made by Procopius and accounts in other primary sources A prime example is Procopius s starting the reign of Justinian in 518 which was actually the start of the reign of his uncle and predecessor Justin I By treating the uncle s reign as part of his nephew s Procopius was able to credit Justinian with buildings erected or begun under Justin s administration Such works include renovation of the walls of Edessa after its 525 flood and consecration of several churches in the region Similarly Procopius falsely credits Justinian for the extensive refortification of the cities of Tomis and Histria in Scythia Minor This had actually been carried out under Anastasius I who reigned before Justin 27 Style EditProcopius belongs to the school of late antique historians who continued the traditions of the Second Sophistic They wrote in Attic Greek Their models were Herodotus Polybius and in particular Thucydides Their subject matter was secular history They avoided vocabulary unknown to Attic Greek and inserted an explanation when they had to use contemporary words Thus Procopius includes glosses of monks the most temperate of Christians and churches as equivalent to a temple or shrine since monasticism was unknown to the ancient Athenians and their ekklesia had been a popular assembly 28 The secular historians eschewed the history of the Christian church Ecclesiastical history was left to a separate genre after Eusebius However Cameron has argued convincingly that Procopius s works reflect the tensions between the classical and Christian models of history in 6th century Constantinople This is supported by Whitby s analysis of Procopius s depiction of the capital and its cathedral in comparison to contemporary pagan panegyrics 29 Procopius can be seen as depicting Justinian as essentially God s vicegerent making the case for buildings being a primarily religious panegyric 30 Procopius indicates that he planned to write an ecclesiastical history himself 31 and if he had he would probably have followed the rules of that genre As far as known however such an ecclesiastical history was never written Some historians have criticized Propocius s description of some barbarians for example he dehumanized the unfamiliar Moors as not even properly human This was however inline with Byzantine ethnographic practice in late antiquity 32 Legacy EditA number of historical novels based on Procopius s works along with other sources have been written Count Belisarius was written by poet and novelist Robert Graves in 1938 Procopius himself appears as a minor character in Felix Dahn s A Struggle for Rome and in L Sprague de Camp s alternate history novel Lest Darkness Fall The novel s main character archaeologist Martin Padway derives most of his knowledge of historical events from the Secret History 33 The narrator in Herman Melville s novel Moby Dick cites Procopius s description of a captured sea monster as evidence of the narrative s feasibility 34 List of selected works EditJ Haury ed 1962 64 1905 Procopii Caesariensis opera omnia in Greek revised by G Wirth Leipzig Teubner 4 volumes H B Dewing ed 1914 40 Procopius Loeb Classical Library Cambridge Mass Harvard University Press and London Hutchinson 7 volumes Greek text and English translation Downey G Dewing Henry B eds 1940 Buildings of Justinian Loeb Classical Library Cambridge MA Harvard University Press G A Williamson ed 2007 1966 Procopius The Secret History Loeb Classical Library Translated by Peter Sarris Harmondsworth Penguin Books ISBN 978 0140455281 A readable and accessible English translation of the Anecdota Prokopios The Secret History Translated by Anthony Kaldellis Indianapolis Hackett Publishing 2010 ISBN 978 1603841801 This edition includes related texts an introductory essay notes maps a timeline a guide to the main sources from the period and a guide to scholarship in English The translator uses blunt and precise English prose in order to adhere to the style of the original text See also EditJordanes Gregory of ToursNotes Edit Like many Byzantine scholars Procopius affected a remarkable traditional form of writing 1 For an alternative reading of Procopius as a trained engineer see Howard Johnson 8 Procopius uses and translates a number of Latin words in his Wars Borm suggests a possible acquaintance with Vergil and Sallust 9 Procopius speaks of becoming Belisarius s advisor symboulos in that year 10 Before modern times European and Mediterranean historians as far as weather is concerned typically recorded only the extreme or major weather events for a year or a multi year period preferring to focus on the human activities of policy makers and warriors instead Borm provides a detailed analysis 18 References Edit Procopius John Moorhead Encyclopedia of Historians and Historical Writing M Z Vol II Kelly Boyd Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers 1999 962 Morcillo Jesus Munoz Trotha Caroline Y Robertson von 2020 11 30 Genealogy of Popular Science From Ancient Ecphrasis to Virtual Reality transcript Verlag p 332 ISBN 978 3 8394 4835 9 a b Suda pi 2479 See under Procopius on Suda On Line Procopius Wars of Justinian I 1 1 Suda pi 2479 See under Procopius on Suda On Line Cameron Averil Procopius and the Sixth Century London Duckworth 1985 p 7 Evans James A S Procopius New York Twayne Publishers 1972 p 31 Cameron Procopius and the Sixth Century p 6 Howard Johnson James The Education and Expertise of Procopius in Antiquite Tardive 10 2002 19 30 Borm Henning 2007 Prokop und die Perser p 46 Franz Steiner Verlag Stuttgart ISBN 978 3 515 09052 0 Procopius Wars 1 12 24 Wars I 18 1 56 Wars I 21 2 Wars I 24 1 58 1 Wars VIII Dolphin Lambert Visiting the Temple Mount Temple Mount org Retrieved February 5 2020 Procopius 1914 Procopius de Bellis H B Henry Bronson Dewing Ed First section Procop Pers 1 1 data perseus org Perseus Digital Library Retrieved 24 December 2022 Opening line in Greek Prokopios Kaisareὺs toὺs polemoys 3ynegrapsen oὓs Ἰoystinianὸs ὁ Ῥwmaiwn basileὺs prὸs barbaroys dihnegke toys te ἑῴoys kaὶ ἑsperioys Translation Procopius from Caesarea wrote the history of the wars of Roman Emperor Justinianus against the barbarians of the East and of the West Greek text edition by Henry Bronson Dewing 1914 Borm Henning Prokop und die Perser Stuttgart Franz Steiner Verlag 2007 Cresci Lia Raffaella Procopio al confine tra due tradizioni storiografiche Rivista di Filologia e di Istruzione Classica 129 1 2001 61 77 Mendelsohn Daniel 26 December 2010 God s Librarians The New Yorker Procopius Secret History 12 20 22 trans Atwater Procopius Secret History 9 20 21 trans Atwater Cf Borm 2015 a b Downey Glanville The Composition of Procopius De Aedificiis in Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association 78 pp 171 183 abstract from JSTOR Whitby Michael Procopian Polemics a review of A Kaldellis Procopius of Caesarea Tyranny History and Philosophy at the End of Antiquity in The Classical Review 55 2006 pp 648 Cameron Averil Procopius and the Sixth Century London Routledge 1985 Croke Brian and James Crow Procopius and Dara in The Journal of Roman Studies 73 1983 143 159 Wars 2 9 14 and 1 7 22 Buildings Book I Whitby Mary Procopius Buildings Book I A Panegyrical Perspective in Antiquite Tardive 8 2000 45 57 Secret History 26 18 Kaldellis Anthony 2013 Ethnography after antiquity foreign lands and peoples in Byzantine literature Philadelphia University of Pennsylvania Press p 10 ISBN 978 0 8122 0840 5 OCLC 859162344 de Camp L Sprague 1949 Lest Darkness Fall Ballantine Books p 111 Melville Herman 1851 Moby Dick or the Whale London Harper amp Brothers doi 10 5962 bhl title 62077 This article is based on an earlier version by James Allan Evans originally posted at Nupedia Further reading EditAdshead Katherine Procopius Poliorcetica continuities and discontinuities in G Clarke et al eds Reading the past in late antiquity Australian National UP Rushcutters Bay 1990 pp 93 119 Alonso Nunez J M Jordanes and Procopius on Northern Europe in Nottingham Medieval Studies 31 1987 1 16 Amitay Ory Procopius of Caesarea and the Girgashite Diaspora in Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha 20 2011 257 276 Anagnostakis Ilias Procopius s dream before the campaign against Libya a reading of Wars 3 12 1 5 in C Angelidi and G Calofonos eds Dreaming in Byzantium and Beyond Farnham Ashgate Publishing 2014 79 94 Bachrach Bernard S Procopius Agathias and the Frankish Military in Speculum 45 1970 435 441 Bachrach Bernard S Procopius and the chronology of Clovis s reign in Viator 1 1970 21 32 Baldwin Barry An Aphorism in Procopius in Rheinisches Museum fur Philologie 125 1982 309 311 Baldwin Barry Sexual Rhetoric in Procopius in Mnemosyne 40 1987 pp 150 152 Belke Klaus Prokops De aedificiis Buch V zu Kleinasien in Antiquite Tardive 8 2000 115 125 Borm Henning Prokop und die Perser Stuttgart Franz Steiner Verlag 2007 Review in English by G Greatrex and Review in English by A Kaldellis Borm Henning Procopius of Caesarea in Encyclopaedia Iranica Online New York 2013 Borm Henning Procopius his predecessors and the genesis of the Anecdota Antimonarchic discourse in late antique historiography in H Borm ed Antimonarchic discourse in Antiquity Stuttgart Franz Steiner Verlag 2015 305 346 Braund David Procopius on the Economy of Lazica in The Classical Quarterly 41 1991 221 225 Brodka Dariusz Die Geschichtsphilosophie in der spatantiken Historiographie Studien zu Prokopios von Kaisareia Agathias von Myrina und Theophylaktos Simokattes Frankfurt am Main Peter Lang 2004 Burn A R Procopius and the island of ghosts in English Historical Review 70 1955 258 261 Cameron Averil Procopius and the Sixth Century Berkeley University of California Press 1985 Cameron Averil The scepticism of Procopius in Historia 15 1966 466 482 Colvin Ian Reporting Battles and Understanding Campaigns in Procopius and Agathias Classicising Historians Use of Archived Documents as Sources in A Sarantis ed War and warfare in late antiquity Current perspectives Leiden Brill 2013 571 598 Cresci Lia Raffaella Procopio al confine tra due tradizioni storiografiche in Rivista di Filologia e di Istruzione Classica 129 2001 61 77 Cristini Marco Il seguito ostrogoto di Amalafrida confutazione di Procopio Bellum Vandalicum 1 8 12 in Klio 99 2017 278 289 Cristini Marco Totila and the Lucanian Peasants Procop Goth 3 22 20 in Greek Roman and Byzantine Studies 61 2021 73 84 Croke Brian and James Crow Procopius and Dara in The Journal of Roman Studies 73 1983 143 159 Downey Glanville The Composition of Procopius De Aedificiis in Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association 78 1947 171 183 Evans James A S Justinian and the Historian Procopius in Greece amp Rome 17 1970 218 223 Evans James A S Procopius New York Twayne Publishers 1972 Gordon C D Procopius and Justinian s Financial Policies in Phoenix 13 1959 23 30 Greatrex Geoffrey Procopius and the Persian Wars D Phil thesis Oxford 1994 Greatrex Geoffrey The dates of Procopius works in BMGS 18 1994 101 114 Greatrex Geoffrey The Composition of Procopius Persian Wars and John the Cappadocian in Prudentia 27 1995 1 13 Greatrex Geoffrey Rome and Persia at War 502 532 London Francis Cairns 1998 Greatrex Geoffrey Recent work on Procopius and the composition of Wars VIII in BMGS 27 2003 45 67 Greatrex Geoffrey Perceptions of Procopius in Recent Scholarship in Histos 8 2014 76 121 and 121a e addenda Greatrex Geoffrey Procopius of Caesarea The Persian Wars A Historical Commentary Cambridge Cambridge University Press 2022 Howard Johnson James The Education and Expertise of Procopius in Antiquite Tardive 10 2002 19 30 Kacar Turhan Procopius in Turkey Histos Supplement 9 2019 19 1 8 Kaegi Walter Procopius the military historian in Byzantinische Forschungen 15 1990 ISSN 0167 5346 53 85 online PDF 989 KB Kaldellis Anthony Classicism Barbarism and Warfare Prokopios and the Conservative Reaction to Later Roman Military Policy American Journal of Ancient History n s 3 4 2004 2005 2007 189 218 Kaldellis Anthony Identifying Dissident Circles in Sixth Century Byzantium The Friendship of Prokopios and Ioannes Lydos Florilegium Vol 21 2004 1 17 Kaldellis Anthony Procopius of Caesarea Tyranny History and Philosophy at the End of Antiquity Philadelphia University of Pennsylvania Press 2004 Kaldellis Anthony Prokopios Persian War A Thematic and Literary Analysis in R Macrides ed History as Literature in Byzantium Aldershot Ashgate 2010 253 273 Kaldellis Anthony Prokopios Vandal War Thematic Trajectories and Hidden Transcripts in S T Stevens amp J Conant eds North Africa under Byzantium and Early Islam Washington D C Dumbarton Oaks 2016 13 21 Kaldellis Anthony The Date and Structure of Prokopios Secret History and his Projected Work on Church History in Greek Roman and Byzantine Studies Vol 49 2009 585 616 Kovacs Tamas Procopius s Sibyl the fall of Vitigis and the Ostrogoths Graeco Latina Brunensia 24 2 2019 113 124 Kruse Marion The Speech of the Armenians in Procopius Justinian s Foreign Policy and the Transition between Books 1 and 2 of the Wars in The Classical Quarterly 63 2013 866 881 Lillington Martin Christopher 2007 2017 2007 Archaeological and Ancient Literary Evidence for a Battle near Dara Gap Turkey AD 530 Topography Texts and Trenches in BAR S1717 2007 The Late Roman Army in the Near East from Diocletian to the Arab Conquest Proceedings of a colloquium held at Potenza Acerenza and Matera Italy edited by Ariel S Lewin and Pietrina Pellegrini pp 299 311 2009 Procopius Belisarius and the Goths in Journal of the Oxford University History Society 2009 Odd Alliances edited by Heather Ellis and Graciela Iglesias Rogers ISSN 1742 917X pages 1 17 https sites google com site jouhsinfo issue7specialissueforinternetexplorer 2011 Secret Histories http classicsconfidential co uk 2011 11 19 secret histories 2012 Hard and Soft Power on the Eastern Frontier a Roman Fortlet between Dara and Nisibis Mesopotamia Turkey Prokopios Mindouos in The Byzantinist edited by Douglas Whalin Issue 2 2012 pp 4 5 http oxfordbyzantinesociety files wordpress com 2012 06 obsnews2012final pdf 2013 Procopius on the struggle for Dara and Rome in A Sarantis N Christie eds War and Warfare in Late Antiquity Current Perspectives Late Antique Archaeology 8 1 8 2 2010 11 Leiden Brill 2013 pp 599 630 ISBN 978 90 04 25257 8 2013 La defensa de Roma por Belisario in Justiniano I el Grande Desperta Ferro edited by Alberto Perez Rubio no 18 July 2013 pages 40 45 ISSN 2171 9276 2017 Procopius of Caesarea Literary and Historical Interpretations editor Routledge July 2017 www routledge com 9781472466044 2017 Introduction and chapter 10 Procopius paredros quaestor Codex Justinianus I 27 and Belisarius strategy in the Mediterranean in Procopius of Caesarea Literary and Historical Interpretations above Maas Michael Robert Strabo and Procopius Classical Geography for a Christian Empire in H Amirav et al eds From Rome to Constantinople Studies in Honour of Averil Cameron Leuven Peeters 2007 67 84 Martindale John The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire III Cambridge 1992 1060 1066 Max Gerald E Procopius Portrait of the Western Roman Emperor Majorian History and Historiography Sonderdruck Aus Band 74 1981 pp 1 6 Meier Mischa Prokop Agathias die Pest und das Ende der antiken Historiographie in Historische Zeitschrift 278 2004 281 310 Meier Mischa and Federico Montinaro eds A Companion to Procopius of Caesarea Brill Leiden 2022 ISBN 978 3 89781 215 4 Pazdernik Charles F Xenophon s Hellenica in Procopius Wars Pharnabazus and Belisarius in Greek Roman and Byzantine Studies 46 2006 175 206 Rance Philip Narses and the Battle of Taginae 552 AD Procopius and Sixth Century Warfare in Historia Zeitschrift fur alte Geschichte 30 4 2005 424 472 Rubin Berthold Prokopios in Realencyclopadie der Classischen Altertumswissenschaft 23 1 1957 273 599 Earlier published with index as Prokopios von Kaisareia Stuttgart Druckenmuller 1954 Stewart Michael Contests of Andreia in Procopius Gothic Wars Parekbolai 4 2014 pp 21 54 Stewart Michael The Andreios Eunuch Commander Narses Sign of a Decoupling of martial Virtues and Hegemonic Masculinity in the early Byzantine Empire Cerae 2 2015 pp 1 25 Stewart Michael Masculinity Identity and Power Politics in the Age of Justinian A Study of Procopius Amsterdam Amsterdam University Press 2020 https www aup nl en book 9789462988231 masculinity identity and power politics in the age of justinian Treadgold Warren The Early Byzantine Historians Basingstoke Macmillan 2007 176 226 The Secret History of Art by Noah Charney on the Vatican Library and Procopius An article by art historian Noah Charney about the Vatican Library and its famous manuscript Historia Arcana by Procopius Whately Conor Battles and Generals Combat Culture and Didacticism in Procopius Wars Leiden 2016 Whitby L M Procopius and the Development of Roman Defences in Upper Mesopotamia in P Freeman and D Kennedy ed The Defence of the Roman and Byzantine East Oxford 1986 717 35 External links Edit Wikisource has original works by or about Procopius Texts of Procopius Edit Works by Procopius in eBook form at Standard Ebooks Works by Procopius at Project Gutenberg Works by or about Procopius at Internet Archive Works by Procopius at LibriVox public domain audiobooks Complete Works Greek text Migne Patrologia Graeca with analytical indexes The Secret History English translation Atwater 1927 at the Internet Medieval Sourcebook The Secret History English translation Dewing 1935 at LacusCurtius The Buildings English translation Dewing 1935 at LacusCurtius The Buildings Book IV Greek text with commentaries index nominum etc at Sorin Olteanu s LTDM Project H B Dewing s Loeb edition of the works of Procopius vols I VI at the Internet Archive History of the Wars Secret History Palestine Pilgrims Text Society 1888 Of the buildings of Justinian by Procopius ca 560 A D Complete Works 1 Greek ed by K W Dindorf Latin trans by Claude Maltret in Corpus Scriptorum Historiae Byzantinae Pars II Vol 1 1833 Persian Wars I II Vandal Wars I II Complete Works 2 Greek ed by K W Dindorf Latin trans by Claude Maltret in Corpus Scriptorum Historiae Byzantinae Pars II Vol 2 1833 Gothic Wars I IV Complete Works 3 Greek ed by K W Dindorf Latin trans by Claude Maltret in Corpus Scriptorum Historiae Byzantinae Pars II Vol 3 1838 Secret History Buildings of Justinian Secondary material Edit Herbermann Charles ed 1913 Procopius of Caesarea Catholic Encyclopedia New York Robert Appleton Company Entry for Procopius from the Suda Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Procopius amp oldid 1148621997, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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